Californians: Here Are Your Clean Vehicle Choices!

Few states in the U.S. can match California’s generosity when it comes to clean vehicle rebate programs.

In fact, back in September, the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the state’s 10,000th Clean Vehicle Rebate to a Nissan Leaf owner from Meadow Vista, California.

But which cars are eligible, and how much rebates can you claim if you live in California?

Thanks to a comprehensive web page from the Center for Sustainable Energy in California, the answers are just a click away.

Combined with federal income-tax rebates for clean vehicles, Californians who buy certain cars can look forward to a total of more than $7,500 in incentives, dramatically reducing the cost of going green.

There are however, a few caveats.

Under the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, those leasing their cars for less than 24 months won’t be eligible to apply.

Therefore, anyone who is looking to buy a clean vehicle in California is advised to research the terms and conditions of the program carefully before they sign any dealer paperwork.

Thank you for writing this article! The CVRP Staff would like to offer its assistance in the future as a resource for California clean vehicle incentive information.

A quick correction: once the $7,500 Federal tax credit is combined with the up to $2,500 cash incentive through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, Californians can receive up to $10,000 total. If you count local incentives (in regions such as the City of Riverside or the San Joaquin Valley), the combined total incentive amount can be as much as $13,000.

If you're a resident of California and would like to find out whether there is a local incentive in your area, you can find incentives by zip code on ARB's clean vehicle incentive website, driveclean.ca.gov.

John
Posted: 10/17/2012 1:44pm PDT

@Amy: Thanks for the comment. I've changed the article to indicate that the total is more than $7,500 in incentives.
--Editor

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Posted: 10/17/2012 2:07pm PDT

@Amy Willis,

I still diagree with CARB's decision to allow Prius Plugin using HOV lanes.

That car is "barely" rated to go hwy speed without engine input...

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Posted: 10/17/2012 2:06pm PDT

This is one of the reason why those "green" cars are doing well in CA, combined with high gas price. It just makes more sense here...